


Worth It

by Rose_of_Pollux



Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Early Days, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 08:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10849956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_of_Pollux/pseuds/Rose_of_Pollux
Summary: When Illya is in a literal bind, Napoleon is more than willing to risk his own safety to save him.





	Worth It

Napoleon’s heart might have stopped as he saw THRUSH toss his partner, bound and gagged from head to foot, over the side of the freighter that Illya had been investigating on. Napoleon had been relaying his findings to Waverly from a nearby motorboat, but had been on pins and needles once Illya had realized he had been spotted by THRUSH and was running for his life on the freighter.

Illya had wanted to get off of the boat himself, but he had been captured first—and THRUSH proceeded to expedite his departure, only complicating things with the ropes and gag. The fall into the water seemed like an eternity for Napoleon to have to watch—helpless and unable to prevent it.

The THRUSHies had gone back after tossing him overboard and didn’t see Napoleon try to reach him in the motorboat before he went under. Napoleon nearly reached him, but Illya, unable to keep himself above water while bound, slipped under just moments before Napoleon could have reached him.

“No--!”

Napoleon only had seconds to think. He was not a strong swimmer at all, but this was Illya— _his_ Illya.

Nothing else mattered.

Taking a deep breath, Napoleon went into the water; his nervous, curled-up stance allowed him to sink rapidly, quickly catching up with Illya, who had been still thrashing about, trying to get back to the surface, but to no avail.

Illya’s eyes widened as he saw Napoleon sinking with him, but said nothing as Napoleon pulled a knife from his pocket and cut his arms and legs free.

Napoleon was still sinking, his feeble attempts to swim back up not getting him anywhere; Illya seized his arms and pulled him back up with him. They broke the surface of the water, the both of them gulping greedily at the air, simultaneously hoping that the THRUSHies wouldn’t hear them.

With Illya continuing to help Napoleon, they made it to the motorboat and sped off. Once they were a safe enough distance away, and once Illya had sufficiently caught his breath, he proceeded to scold his partner in rapid Russian, but punctuated his scoldings with kisses for his partner.

“…So, I guess the take-home message here is ‘Thanks, but don’t do it again?’” Napoleon said, wryly.

“You _blockhead_!” Illya replied, kissing him once more. “You complete and _utter blockhead_! You know you are not a strong swimmer!”

“Well, yeah, it’s kind of hard to forget that little detail…” Napoleon mused.

“Then why did you take such a foolish risk!?” Illya exclaimed. “You could have drowned!”

“…In case you’ve completely forgotten, you actually were drowning. Unless you were still able to swim with all of those ropes on?”

Illya sighed.

“ _Nyet_. You did save my life. But it was still a foolish risk! You would risk both of us drowning?”

“Well… of course,” Napoleon said, as though he was stating the obvious. “You didn’t think I could just sit back and do nothing, did you? Especially now, after we…” He gently placed his hand under Illya’s chin. “Illya, I spent so long trying to find my soulmate, and now that I’ve finally found you… I can’t just cast you aside that easily. You mean everything to me, Illya.”

Illya blinked, and then suddenly drew his arms tightly around Napoleon, who returned the hug.

“I did not want to lose you, either, _Dorogoy_ ,” he whispered. “So, please… Do not take such chances again!”

“…If you’re in trouble again, I can’t promise that,” Napoleon said, honestly. “I don’t think you can, either.”

“…True.”

“So how about we just do our best, then, hmm?”

“ _Da_. I can live with that.”

They were lucky to have each other, and lucky to be alive. And soon, they would recover and strike back against THRUSH—a team together once again.


End file.
